一起来点个塔可吧 Essential taco related vocab

Our Taco Fest 2024 is just under two weeks away and so what better time to brush up on some essential taco related vocab! We'll be taking a look at some of the common fillings, extras and how to say you don't want something in your taco – which may be especially helpful for those cilantro haters out there.

First of all taco in Chinese is 塔可 tǎ kě, a nice, straight forward transliteration that anyone should be able to nail saying. Now, getting more into the details, let's take a look at the different kinds of tortillas that are usually available for your tacos.

Corn tortilla: 玉米饼皮 yù mǐ bǐng pí
Flour tortilla: 面粉饼 miàn fěn bǐng or 小麦饼皮 xiǎo mài bǐng pí
Hard shell: 脆皮 cuì pí
Soft shell: 软皮 ruǎn pí

Taco Names

Rather than directly translating the names of fillings like Al Pastor or Carnitas, most Mexican restaurants in China will instead translate the name to the main filling ingredient e.g. the type of meat, along with the cooking method. For example, Carnitas is often translated to 手撕猪肉塔可 shǒu sī zhū ròu tǎ kě which literally means "pulled pork tacos". So let's check out some of the most common fillings and cooking techniques you'll see on most menus.

Common fillings

Beef: 牛肉 niú ròu
Beef tongue: 牛舌 niú shé
Steak: 牛排 niú pái
Pork: 猪肉 zhū ròu
Chicken: 鸡肉 jī ròu
Fried fish: 炸鱼 zhá yú
Shrimp: 虾 xiā
Vegetarian: 素食 sù shí
Chorizo: 克里索香肠 kè lǐ suǒ xiāng cháng or 西班牙香肠 xī bān yá xiāng cháng

Cooking method

Roasted: 烤 kǎo
Slow cooked: 慢炖 màn dùn
Slow roasted: 慢烤 màn kǎo
Grilled: 炭烤 tàn kǎo or 炙烤 zhì kǎo
Pulled: 手撕 shǒu sī

Common garnishes

Along with the main filling, tacos of course come with an array of delicious garnishes like salsa, pickles, veggies and more to complete that beautiful little treat the world has come to love. Here we've picked out some of the most frequent garnishes you're likely to encounter.

Salsa: 莎莎 shā shā
Guacamole: 牛油果酱 niú yóu guǒ jiàng
Jalapeño: 墨西哥辣椒 mò xī gē là jiāo
Onion: 洋葱 yáng cōng
Red onion: 红洋葱 hóng yáng cōng
Pickle: 泡 pào or 腌 yān
Lime: 青柠檬 qīng níng méng
Cilantro: 香菜 xiāng cài
Avocado: 牛油果 niú yóu guǒ
Sour cream: 酸奶油 suān nǎi yóu

Specifying your taco order

Lastly, if you have some specific requirements for your taco here are a few useful phrases you can use.

Don't add: 别放 bié fàng / 不要放 bù yào fàng

If there is a specific ingredient you don't want in your taco you can say "请别放/不要放X qǐng bié fàng / bù yào fàng X". For example if you are one of those people who hate coriander you can say "请别放香菜 qǐng bié fàng xiāng cài".

Add less or more: 少放 shǎo fàng /多放 duō fàng

As well as asking not to add something you also ask to add less of something by saying 请少放X qǐng shǎo fàng X and to ask more of something 请多放X qǐng duō fàng X. For example if you love a bit of spice and want some more jalapeños you can say 请多放墨西哥辣椒 qǐng duō fàng mò xī gē là jiāo.

来源：The Beijinger
编辑：万月英